System and methods for minimizing organization risk from users associated with a password breach

ABSTRACT

System and methods are disclosed for organizations to run a test against an active directory list to see if any user-provided passwords have been part of an existing data breach. Utilizing information from such a test identifies users that have weak passwords, reused passwords or shared passwords that have been associated with an earlier breach. With this information, the organization can seek to reduce risk by training staff for this specific issue in a timely and appropriate manner to significantly reduce the risk of a future breach by those identified users. Training can be customized and targeted at those users who attempt to use passwords that have been associated with a breach (either of their own account or of another account on the same or related domain.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This patent application is a continuation of, and claims priority to andthe benefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/829,925 filed Jun. 1,2022, and titled “SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR MINIMIZING ORGANIZATION RISKFROM USERS ASSOCIATED WITH A PASSWORD BREACH,”, which a continuation of,and claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. patent application Ser.No. 17/347,158, filed Jun. 14, 2021, and titled “SYSTEM AND METHODS FORMINIMIZING ORGANIZATION RISK FROM USERS ASSOCIATED WITH A PASSWORDBREACH,”, which is a continuation of, and claims priority to and thebenefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/746,662, filed Jan. 17,2020, and titled “SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR MINIMIZING ORGANIZATION RISKFROM USERS ASSOCIATED WITH A PASSWORD BREACH,”, which is a continuationof, and claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 16/135,757, filed Sep. 19, 2018, and titled “SYSTEM AND METHODSFOR MINIMIZING ORGANIZATION RISK FROM USERS ASSOCIATED WITH A PASSWORDBREACH,” which is incorporated herein by reference.

This disclosure generally relates to security awareness systems andmethods useful for minimizing ongoing organization risk that is presentfrom users that have previously been associated with a password breach.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

Poor password choices, password reuse and password sharing are poorbehaviors from a security perspective. Users often choose passwords thatcan be easily guessed. If such passwords have previously been associatedwith a breach, then it is likely bad actors will try those passwords togain access to a user's account. Users often reuse passwords. Therefore,if a breach occurs and the username and password for one login becomeknown to bad actors, those details may also be valid for other userlogins, which increases the harm that those bad actors can cause. Usersalso sometimes share passwords with colleagues. Therefore, a passwordthat has been used in a breach against one user in a domain may also beof use to bad actors for other users in the same domain. Organizationsare able to run a test comparing an active directory list againstpublicly available sources of information on password breaches to see ifany user-provided passwords have been part of an existing data breach.However, this doesn't provide any training or action to prevent usersfrom performing actions which make future passwords more likely to besusceptible. Existing solutions detect that a password has beenassociated with a breach and prompt the user to change it. They do notaddress the behaviors that led to the choice of that password.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

Systems and methods are disclosed that minimize ongoing risk to anorganization from user behaviors which magnify the severity of abreached or compromised password.

Organizations are able to run a test against an active directory list tosee if any user-provided passwords have been part of an existing databreach. Utilizing information from such a test identifies users thathave weak passwords, reused passwords or shared passwords that have beenassociated with an earlier breach. With this information, theorganization can seek to reduce risk by training staff for this specificissue in a timely and appropriate manner to significantly reduce therisk of a future breach by those identified users. Training can becustomized and targeted at those users who attempt to use passwords thathave been associated with a breach (either of their own account or ofanother account on the same [or related] domain). By training users tofollow best practice when selecting passwords (including but not limitedto password reuse, sharing or using shared passwords, using weak orguessable passwords, etc.), the organization is not only mitigating therisk associated with passwords that have already been used in a breachbut are also reducing the risk that the passwords selected will be usedin future breaches.

In some examples, electronic training is provided to users withpasswords associated with a data breach, determining one or more usersassociated with a type of data breach and generating an electronictraining campaign for the one or more users passed on the type of databreach, and communicating the electronic training campaign to the one ormore users. In some examples, users selected for an electronic trainingcampaign may include selecting one or more users based on a number oftimes the one or more users or a domain of the one or more users havebeen subject to one or more data breaches.

In some examples, a different electronic training campaign is generatedand communicated to users with passwords associated with a differenttype of data breach.

In some examples, a password breach test is used to determine users withpasswords associated with one or more data breaches, and the results ofthe password breach test are stored in a data storage. One example of atype of password data breach is a data breach associated with the user.Another example of a type of password data breach is a data breachassociated with another user within the same domain.

A risk score for each user may be established based on the type ofpassword breach and/or the results from the electronic training providedto the user. An entity risk score may be stablished for an entity thatis associated with the plurality of users, for example based on the typeof password breach and/or the results from the electronic trainingprovided to the users. One or more user properties may be changedresponsive to the user's risk score or to the entity's risk score.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing and other objects, aspects, features, and advantages ofthe disclosure will become more apparent and better understood byreferring to the following description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1A is a block diagram depicting an embodiment of a networkenvironment comprising client device in communication with serverdevice;

FIG. 1B is a block diagram depicting a could computing environmentcomprising client device in communication with cloud service providers;

FIGS. 1C and 1D are block diagrams depicting embodiments of computingdevices useful in connection with the methods and systems describedherein;

FIG. 2A depicts an implementation of some of the server architecture ofan implementation of a system capable of using breached passwordinformation to train users, according to some embodiments;

FIG. 2B depicts an implementation of some of the client architecture ofan implementation of a system capable using breached passwordinformation to train users, according to some embodiments; and

FIG. 3 depicts an implementation of a method for providing passwordelectronic training to users.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

For purposes of reading the description of the various embodimentsbelow, the following descriptions of the sections of the specificationsand their respective contents may be helpful:

Section A describes a network environment and computing environmentwhich may be useful for practicing embodiments described herein.

Section B describes embodiments of systems and methods for creating andexecuting specific security awareness training campaigns by a securityawareness system, wherein the training campaigns utilize breachedpassword test information.

A. Computing and Network Environment

Prior to discussing specific embodiments of the present solution, it maybe helpful to describe aspects of the operating environment as well asassociated system components (e.g. hardware elements) in connection withthe methods and systems described herein. Referring to FIG. 1A, anembodiment of a network environment is depicted. In a brief overview,the network environment includes one or more clients 102 a-102 n (alsogenerally referred to as local machines(s) 102, client(s) 102, clientnode(s) 102, client machine(s) 102, client computer(s) 102, clientdevice(s) 102, endpoint(s) 102, or endpoint node(s) 102) incommunication with one or more servers 106 a-106 n (also generallyreferred to as server(s) 106, node(s) 106, machine(s) 106, or remotemachine(s) 106) via one or more networks 104. In some embodiments, aclient 102 has the capacity to function as both a client node seekingaccess to resources provided by a server and as a server providingaccess to hosted resources for other clients 102 a-102 n.

Although FIG. 1A shows a network 104 between the clients 102 and theservers 106, the clients 102 and the servers 106 may be on the samenetwork 104. In some embodiments, there are multiple networks 104between the clients 102 and the servers 106. In one of theseembodiments, a network 104′ (not shown) may be a private network and anetwork 104 may be a public network. In another of these embodiments, anetwork 104 may be a private network and a network 104′ may be a publicnetwork. In still another of these embodiments, networks 104 and 104′may both be private networks.

The network 104 may be connected via wired or wireless links. Wiredlinks may include Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), coaxial cable lines, oroptical fiber lines. Wireless links may include Bluetooth®, BluetoothLow Energy (BLE), ANT/ANT+, ZigBee, Z-Wave, Thread, Wi-Fi®, WorldwideInteroperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX®), mobile WiMAX®,WiMAX®-Advanced, NFC, SigFox, LoRa, Random Phase Multiple Access (RPMA),Weightless-N/P/W, an infrared channel or a satellite band. The wirelesslinks may also include any cellular network standards to communicateamong mobile devices, including standards that qualify as 1G, 2G, 3G,4G, or 5G. The network standards may qualify as one or more generationsof mobile telecommunication standards by fulfilling a specification orstandards such as the specifications maintained by the InternationalTelecommunication Union. The 3G standards, for example, may correspondto the International Mobile Telecommuniations-2000 (IMT-2000)specification, and the 4G standards may correspond to the InternationalMobile Telecommunication Advanced (IMT-Advanced) specification. Examplesof cellular network standards include AMPS, GSM, GPRS, UMTS, CDMA2000,CDMA-NRTT, CDMA-EVDO, LTE, LTE-Advanced, LTE-M1, and Narrowband IoT(NB-IoT). Wireless standards may use various channel access methods,e.g. FDMA, TDMA, CDMA, or SDMA. In some embodiments, different types ofdata may be transmitted via different links and standards. In otherembodiments, the same types of data may be transmitted via differentlinks and standards.

The network 104 may be any type and/or form of network. The geographicalscope of the network may vary widely and the network 104 can be a bodyarea network (BAN), a personal area network (PAN), a local-area network(LAN), e.g. Intranet, a metropolitan area network (MAN), a wide areanetwork (WAN), or the Internet. The topology of the network 104 may beof any form and may include, e.g., any of the following: point-to-point,bus, star, ring, mesh, or tree. The network 104 may be an overlaynetwork which is virtual and sits on top of one or more layers of othernetworks 104′. The network 104 may be of any such network topology asknown to those ordinarily skilled in the art capable of supporting theoperations described herein. The network 104 may utilize differenttechniques and layers or stacks of protocols, including, e.g., theEthernet protocol, the internet protocol suite (TCP/IP), the ATM(Asynchronous Transfer Mode) technique, the SONET (Synchronous OpticalNetworking) protocol, or the SDH (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy)protocol. The TCP/IP internet protocol suite may include applicationlayer, transport layer, internet layer (including, e.g., IPv4 and IPv6),or the link layer. The network 104 may be a type of broadcast network, atelecommunications network, a data communication network, or a computernetwork.

In some embodiments, the system may include multiple, logically-groupedservers 106. In one of these embodiments, the logical group of serversmay be referred to as a server farm or a machine farm. In another ofthese embodiments, the servers 106 may be geographically dispersed. Inother embodiments, a machine farm may be administered as a singleentity. In still other embodiments, the machine farm includes aplurality of machine farms. The servers 106 within each machine farm canbe heterogeneous—one or more of the servers 106 or machines 106 canoperate according to one type of operating system platform (e.g.,Windows, manufactured by Microsoft Corp. of Redmond, Wash.), while oneor more of the other servers 106 can operate according to another typeof operating system platform (e.g., Unix, Linux, or Mac OSX).

In one embodiment, servers 106 in the machine farm may be stored inhigh-density rack systems, along with associated storage systems, andlocated in an enterprise data center. In this embodiment, consolidatingthe servers 106 in this way may improve system manageability, datasecurity, the physical security of the system, and system performance bylocating servers 106 and high-performance storage systems on localizedhigh-performance networks. Centralizing the servers 106 and storagesystems and coupling them with advanced system management tools allowsmore efficient use of server resources.

The servers 106 of each machine farm do not need to be physicallyproximate to another server 106 in the same machine farm. Thus, thegroup of servers 106 logically grouped as a machine farm may beinterconnected using a wide-area network (WAN) connection or ametropolitan-area network (MAN) connection. For example, a machine farm38 may include servers 106 physically located in different continents ordifferent regions of a continent, country, state, city, campus, or room.Data transmission speeds between servers 106 in the machine farm can beincreased if the servers 106 are connected using a local-area network(LAN) connection or some form of direct connection. Additionally, aheterogeneous machine farm may include one or more servers 106 operatingaccording to a type of operating system, while one or more other serversexecute one or more types of hypervisors rather than operating systems.In these embodiments, hypervisors may be used to emulate virtualhardware, partition physical hardware, virtualize physical hardware, andexecute virtual machines that provide access to computing environments,allowing multiple operating systems to run concurrently on a hostcomputer. Native hypervisors may run directly on the host computer.Hypervisors may include VMware ESX/ESXi, manufactured by VMWare, Inc.,of Palo Alta, Calif.; the Xen hypervisor, an open source product whosedevelopment is overseen by Citrix Systems, Inc. of Fort Lauderdale,Fla.; the HYPER-V hypervisors provided by Microsoft, or others. Hostedhypervisors may run within an operating system on a second softwarelevel. Examples of hosted hypervisors may include VMWare Workstation andVirtualBox, manufactured by Oracle Corporation of Redwood City, Calif.

Management of the machine farm may be de-centralized. For example, oneor more servers 106 may comprise components, subsystems and modules tosupport one or more management services for the machine farm. In one ofthese embodiments, one or more servers 106 provide functionality formanagement of dynamic data, including techniques for handling failover,data replication, and increasing the robustness of the machine farm.Each server 106 may communicate with a persistent store and, in someembodiments, with a dynamic store.

Server 106 may be a file server, application server, web server, proxyserver, appliance, network appliance, gateway, gateway server,virtualization server, deployment server, SSL VPN server, or firewall.In one embodiment, a plurality of servers 106 may be in the path betweenany two communicating servers 106.

Referring to FIG. 1B, a cloud computing environment is depicted. A cloudcomputing environment may provide client 102 with one or more resourcesprovided by a network environment. The cloud computing environment mayinclude one or more clients 102 a-102 n, in communication with the cloud108 over one or more networks 104. Clients 102 may include, e.g., thickclients, thin clients, and zero clients. A thick client may provide atleast some functionality even when disconnected from the cloud 108 orservers 106. A thin client or zero client may depend on the connectionto the cloud 108 or server 106 to provide functionality. A zero clientmay depend on the cloud 108 or other networks 104 or servers 106 toretrieve operating system data for the client device 102. The cloud 108may include back end platforms, e.g., servers 106, storage, server farmsor data centers.

The cloud 108 may be public, private, or hybrid. Public clouds mayinclude public servers 106 that are maintained by third parties to theclients 102 or the owners of the clients. The servers 106 may be locatedoff-site in remote geographical locations as disclosed above orotherwise. Public clouds may be connected to the servers 106 over apublic network. Private clouds may include private servers 106 that arephysically maintained by clients 102 or owners of clients. Privateclouds may be connected to the servers 106 over a private network 104.Hybrid clouds 109 may include both the private and public networks 104and servers 106.

The cloud 108 may also include a cloud-based delivery, e.g. Software asa Service (SaaS) 110, Platform as a Service (PaaS) 112, andInfrastructure as a Service (IaaS) 114. IaaS may refer to a user rentingthe user of infrastructure resources that are needed during a specifiedtime period. IaaS provides may offer storage, networking, servers orvirtualization resources from large pools, allowing the users to quicklyscale up by accessing more resources as needed. Examples of IaaS includeAmazon Web Services (AWS) provided by Amazon, Inc. of Seattle, Wash.,Rackspace Cloud provided by Rackspace Inc. of San Antonio, Tex., GoogleCompute Engine provided by Google Inc. of Mountain View, Calif., orRightScale provided by RightScale, Inc. of Santa Barbara, Calif. PaaSproviders may offer functionality provided by IaaS, including, e.g.,storage, networking, servers or virtualization, as well as additionalresources, e.g., the operating system, middleware, or runtime resources.Examples of PaaS include Windows Azure provided by Microsoft Corporationof Redmond, Wash., Google App Engine provided by Google Inc., and Herokuprovided by Heroku, Inc. of San Francisco Calif. SaaS providers mayoffer the resources that PaaS provides, including storage, networking,servers, virtualization, operating system, middleware, or runtimeresources. In some embodiments, SaaS providers may offer additionalresources including, e.g., data and application resources. Examples ofSaaS include Google Apps provided by Google Inc., Salesforce provided bySalesforce.com Inc. of San Francisco, Calif., or Office365 provided byMicrosoft Corporation. Examples of SaaS may also include storageproviders, e.g. Dropbox provided by Dropbox Inc. of San Francisco,Calif., Microsoft OneDrive provided by Microsoft Corporation, GoogleDrive provided by Google Inc., or Apple iCloud provided by Apple Inc. ofCupertino, Calif.

Clients 102 may access IaaS resources with one or more IaaS standards,including, e.g., Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), Open CloudComputing Interface (OCCI), Cloud Infrastructure Management Interface(CIMI), or OpenStack standards. Some IaaS standards may allow clientsaccess to resources over HTTP and may use Representational StateTransfer (REST) protocol or Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP).Clients 102 may access PaaS resources with different PaaS interfaces.Some PaaS interfaces use HTTP packages, standard Java APIs, JavaMailAPI, Java Data Objects (JDO), Java Persistence API (JPA), Python APIs,web integration APIs for different programming languages including,e.g., Rack for Ruby, WSGI for Python, or PSGI for Perl, or other APIsthat may be built on REST, HTTP, XML, or other protocols. Clients 102may access SaaS resources through the use of web-based user interfaces,provided by a web browser (e.g. Google Chrome, Microsoft InternetExplorer, or Mozilla Firefox provided by Mozilla Foundation of MountainView, Calif.). Clients 102 may also access SaaS resources throughsmartphone or tablet applications, including e.g., Salesforce SalesCloud, or Google Drive App. Clients 102 may also access SaaS resourcesthrough the client operating system, including e.g. Windows file systemfor Dropbox.

In some embodiments, access to IaaS, PaaS, or SaaS resources may beauthenticated. For example, a server or authentication server mayauthenticate a user via security certificates, HTTPS, or API keys. APIkeys may include various encryption standards such as, e.g., AdvancedEncryption Standard (AES). Data resources may be sent over TransportLayer Security (TLS) or Secure Sockets Layer (SSL).

The client 102 and server 106 may be deployed as and/or executed on anytype and form of computing device, e.g., a computer, network device orappliance capable of communicating on any type and form of network andperforming the operations described herein.

FIGS. 1C and 1D depict block diagrams of a computing device 100 usefulfor practicing an embodiment of the client 102 or a server 106. As shownin FIGS. 1C and 1D, each computing device 100 includes a centralprocessing unit 121, and a main memory unit 122. As shown in FIG. 1C, acomputing device 100 may include a storage device 128, an installationdevice 116, a network interface 118, and I/O controller 123, displaydevices 124 a-124 n, a keyboard 126 and a pointing device 127, e.g., amouse. The storage device 128 may include, without limitation, anoperating system 129, software 131, and a software of a simulatedphishing attack system 120. As shown in FIG. 1D, each computing device100 may also include additional optional elements, e.g., a memory port103, a bridge 170, one or more input/output devices 130 a-130 n(generally referred to using reference numeral 130), and a cache memory140 in communication with the central processing unit 121.

The central processing unit 121 is any logic circuitry that responds toand processes instructions fetched from the main memory unit 122. Inmany embodiments, the central processing unit 121 is provided by amicroprocessor unit, e.g.: those manufactured by Intel Corporation ofMountain View, Calif.; those manufactured by Motorola Corporation ofSchaumburg, Ill.; the ARM processor and TEGRA system on a chip (SoC)manufactured by Nvidia of Santa Clara, Calif.; the POWER7 processor,those manufactured by International Business Machines of White Plains,N.Y.; or those manufactured by Advanced Micro Devices of Sunnyvale,Calif. The computing device 100 may be based on any of these processors,or any other processor capable of operating as described herein. Thecentral processing unit 121 may utilize instruction level parallelism,thread level parallelism, different levels of cache, and multi-coreprocessors. A multi-core processor may include two or more processingunits on a single computing component. Examples of multi-core processorsinclude the AMD PHENOM IIX2, INTER CORE i5 and INTEL CORE i7.

Main memory unit 122 may include on or more memory chips capable ofstoring data and allowing any storage location to be directly accessedby the microprocessor 121. Main memory unit 122 may be volatile andfaster than storage 128 memory. Main memory units 122 may be DynamicRandom-Access Memory (DRAM) or any variants, including staticRandom-Access Memory (SRAM), Burst SRAM or SynchBurst SRAM (BSRAM), FastPage Mode DRAM (FPM DRAM), Enhanced DRAM (EDRAM), Extended Data OutputRAM (EDO RAM), Extended Data Output DRAM (EDO DRAM), Burst Extended DataOutput DRAM (BEDO DRAM), Single Data Rate Synchronous DRAM (SDR SDRAM),Double Data Rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), Direct Rambus DRAM (DRDRAM), orExtreme Data Rate DRAM (XDR DRAM). In some embodiments, the main memory122 or the storage 128 may be non-volatile; e.g., non-volatile readaccess memory (NVRAM), flash memory non-volatile static RAM (nvSRAM),Ferroelectric RAM (FeRAM), Magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM), Phase-changememory (PRAM), conductive-bridging RAM (CBRAM),Silicon-Oxide-Nitride-Oxide-Silicon (SONOS), Resistive RAM (RRAM),Racetrack, Nano-RAM (NRAM), or Millipede memory. The main memory 122 maybe based on any of the above described memory chips, or any otheravailable memory chips capable of operating as described herein. In theembodiment shown in FIG. 1C, the processor 121 communicates with mainmemory 122 via a system bus 150 (described in more detail below). FIG.1D depicts an embodiment of a computing device 100 in which theprocessor communicates directly with main memory 122 via a memory port103. For example, in FIG. 1D the main memory 122 may be DRDRAM.

FIG. 1D depicts and embodiment in which the main processor 121communicates directly with cache memory 140 via a secondary bus,sometimes referred to as a backside bus. In other embodiments, the mainprocessor 121 communicates with cache memory 140 using the system bus150. Cache memory 140 typically has a faster response time than mainmemory 122 and is typically provided by SRAM, BSRAM, or EDRAM. In theembodiment shown in FIG. 1D, the processor 121 communicates with variousI/O devices 130 via a local system bus 150. Various buses may be used toconnect the central processing unit 121 to any of the I/O devices 130,including a PCI bus, a PCI-X bus, or a PCI-Express bus, or a NuBus. Forembodiments in which the I/O device is a video display 124, theprocessor 121 may use an Advanced Graphic Port (AGP) to communicate withthe display 124 or the I/O controller 123 for the display 124. FIG. 1Ddepicts and embodiment of a computer 100 in which the main processor 121communicates directly with I/O device 130 b or other processors 121′ viaHYPERTRANSPORT, RAPIDIO, or INFINIBAND communications technology. FIG.1D also depicts an embodiment in which local busses and directcommunication are mixed: the processor 121 communicates with I/O device130 a using a local interconnect bus while communicating with I/O device130 b directly.

A wide variety of I/O devices 130 a-130 n may be present in thecomputing device 100. Input devices may include keyboards, mice,trackpads, trackballs, touchpads, touch mice, multi-touch touchpads andtouch mice, microphones, multi-array microphones, drawing tablets,cameras, single-lens reflex cameras (SLR), digital SLR (DSLR), CMOSsensors, accelerometers, infrared optical sensors, pressure sensors,magnetometer sensors, angular rate sensors, depth sensors, proximitysensors, ambient light sensors, gyroscopic sensors, or other sensors.Output devices may include video displays, graphical displays, speakers,headphones, inkjet printers, laser printers, and 3D printers.

Devices 130 a-130 n may include a combination of multiple input oroutput devices, including, e.g., Microsoft KINECT, Nintendo Wiimote forthe WII, Nintendo WII U GAMEPAD, or Apple iPhone. Some devices 130 a-130n allow gesture recognition inputs through combining some of the inputsand outputs. Some devices 130 a-130 n provide for facial recognitionwhich may be utilized as an input for different purposes includingauthentication and other commands. Some devices 130 a-130 n provide forvoice recognition and inputs, including, e.g., Microsoft KINECT, SIRIfor iPhone by Apple, Google Now or Google Voice Search, and Alexa byAmazon.

Additional devices 130 a-130 n have both input and output capabilities,including, e.g., haptic feedback devices, touchscreen displays, ormulti-touch displays. Touchscreen, multi-touch displays, touchpads,touch mice, or other touch sensing devices may use differenttechnologies to sense touch, including, e.g., capacitive, surfacecapacitive, projected capacitive touch (PCT), in cell capacitive,resistive, infrared, waveguide, dispersive signal touch (DST), in-celloptical, surface acoustic wave (SAW), bending wave touch (BWT), orforce-based sensing technologies. Some multi-touch devices may allow twoor more contact points with the surface, allowing advanced functionalityincluding, e.g., pinch, spread, rotate, scroll, or other gestures. Sometouchscreen devices, including, e.g., Microsoft PIXELSENSE orMulti-Touch Collaboration Wall, may have larger surfaces, such as on atable-top or on a wall, and may also interact with other electronicdevices. Some I/O devices 130 a-130 n, display devices 124 a-124 n orgroup of devices may be augmented reality devices. The I/O devices maybe controlled by an I/O controller 123 as shown in FIG. 1C. The I/Ocontroller may control one or more I/O devices, such as, e.g., akeyboard 126 and a pointing device 127, e.g., a mouse or optical pen.Furthermore, an I/O device may also provide storage and/or aninstallation medium 116 for the computing device 100. In still otherembodiments, the computing device 100 may provide USB connections (notshown) to receive handheld USB storage devices. In further embodiments,a I/O device 130 may be a bridge between the system bus 150 and anexternal communication bus, e.g. a USB bus, a SCSI bus, a FireWire bus,an Ethernet bus, a Gigabit Ethernet bus, a Fibre Channel bus, or aThunderbolt bus.

In some embodiments, display devices 124 a-124 n may be connected to I/Ocontroller 123. Display devices may include, e.g., liquid crystaldisplays (LCD), thin film transistor LCD (TFT-LCD), blue phase LCD,electronic papers (e-ink) displays, flexile displays, light emittingdiode displays (LED), digital light processing (DLP) displays, liquidcrystal on silicon (LCOS) displays, organic light-emitting diode (OLED)displays, active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) displays,liquid crystal laser displays, time-multiplexed optical shutter (TMOS)displays, or 3D displays. Examples of 3D displays may use, e.g.stereoscopy, polarization filters, active shutters, or auto stereoscopy.Display devices 124 a-124 n may also be a head-mounted display (HMD). Insome embodiments, display devices 124 a-124 n or the corresponding I/Ocontrollers 123 may be controlled through or have hardware support forOPENGL or DIRECTX API or other graphics libraries.

In some embodiments, the computing device 100 may include or connect tomultiple display devices 124 a-124 n, which each may be of the same ordifferent type and/or form. As such, any of the I/O devices 130 a-130 nand/or the I/O controller 123 may include any type and/or form ofsuitable hardware, software, or combination of hardware and software tosupport, enable or provide for the connection and use of multipledisplay devices 124 a-124 n by the computing device 100. For example,the computing device 100 may include any type and/or form of videoadapter, video card, driver, and/or library to interface, communicate,connect or otherwise use the display devices 124 a-124 n. In oneembodiment, a video adapter may include multiple connectors to interfaceto multiple display devices 124 a-124 n. In other embodiments, thecomputing device 100 may include multiple video adapters, with eachvideo adapter connected to one or more of the display devices 124 a-124n. In some embodiments, any portion of the operating system of thecomputing device 100 may be configured for using multiple displays 124a-124 n. In other embodiments, one or more of the display devices 124a-124 n may be provided by one or more other computing devices 100 a or100 b connected to the computing device 100, via the network 104. Insome embodiments software may be designed and constructed to use anothercomputer's display device as a second display device 124 a for thecomputing device 100. For example, in one embodiment, an Apple iPad mayconnect to a computing device 100 and use the display of the device 100as an additional display screen that may be used as an extended desktop.One ordinarily skilled in the art will recognize and appreciate thevarious ways and embodiments that a computing device 100 may beconfigured to have multiple display devices 124 a-124 n.

Referring again to FIG. 1C, the computing device 100 may comprise astorage device 128 (e.g. one or more hard disk drives or redundantarrays of independent disks) for storing an operating system or otherrelated software, and for storing application software programs such asany program related to the software 120. Examples of storage device 128include, e.g., hard disk drive (HDD); optical drive including CD drive,DVD drive, or BLU-RAY drive; solid-state drive (SSD); USB flash drive;or any other device suitable for storing data. Some storage devices mayinclude multiple volatile and non-volatile memories, including, e.g.,solid state hybrid drives that combine hard disks with solid statecache. Some storage device 128 may be non-volatile, mutable, orread-only. Some storage device 128 may be internal and connect to thecomputing device 100 via a bus 150. Some storage device 128 may beexternal and connect to the computing device 100 via a I/O device 130that provides an external bus. Some storage device 128 may connect tothe computing device 100 via the network interface 118 over a network104, including, e.g., the Remote Disk for MACBOOK AIR by Apple. Someclient devices 100 may not require a non-volatile storage device 128 andmay be thin clients or zero clients 102. Some storage device 128 mayalso be used as an installation device 116 and may be suitable forinstalling software and programs. Additionally, the operating system andthe software can be run from a bootable medium, for example, a bootableCD, e.g. KNOPPIX, a bootable CD for GNU/Linux that is available as aGNU/Linux distribution from knoppix.net.

Client device 100 may also install software or application from anapplication distribution platform. Examples of application distributionplatforms include the App Store for iOS provided by Apple, Inc., the MacApp Store provided by Apple, Inc., GOOGLE PLAY for Android OS providedby Google Inc., Chrome Webstore for CHROME OS provided by Google Inc.,and Amazon Appstore for Android OS and KINDLE FIRE provided byAmazon.com, Inc. An application distribution platform may facilitateinstallation of software on a client device 102. An applicationdistribution platform may include a repository of applications on aserver 106 or a cloud 108, which the clients 102 a-102 n may access overa network 104. An application distribution platform may includeapplication developed and provided by various developers. A user of aclient device 102 may select, purchase and/or download an applicationvia the application distribution platform.

Furthermore, the computing device 100 may include a network interface118 to interface to the network 104 through a variety of connectionsincluding, but not limited to, standard telephone lines LAN or WAN links(e.g., 802.11, T1, T3, Gigabit Ethernet, InfiniBand), broadbandconnections (e.g., ISDN, Frame Relay, ATM, Gigabit Ethernet,Ethernet-over-SONET, ADSL, VDSL, BPON, GPON, fiber optical includingFiOS), wireless connections, or some combination of any or all of theabove. Connections can be established using a variety of communicationprotocols (e.g., TCP/IP, Ethernet, ARCNET, SONET, SDH, Fiber DistributedData Interface (FDDI), IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac CDMA, GSM, WiMAX and directasynchronous connections). In one embodiment, the computing device 100communicates with other computing devices 100′ via any type and/or formof gateway or tunneling protocol e.g. Secure Socket Layer (SSL) orTransport Layer Security (TLS), or the Citrix Gateway Protocolmanufactured by Citrix Systems, Inc. The network interface 118 maycomprise a built-in network adapter, network interface card, PCMCIAnetwork card, EXPRESSCARD network card, card bus network adapter,wireless network adapter, USB network adapter, modem or any other devicesuitable for interfacing the computing device 100 to any type of networkcapable of communication and performing the operations described herein.

A computing device 100 of the sort depicted in FIGS. 1B and 1C mayoperate under the control of an operating system, which controlsscheduling of tasks and access to system resources. The computing device100 can be running any operating system such as any of the versions ofthe MICROSOFT WINDOWS operating systems, the different releases of theUnix and Linux operating systems, any version of the MAC OS forMacintosh computers, any embedded operating system, any real-timeoperating system, any open source operating system, any proprietaryoperating system, any operating systems for mobile computing devices, orany other operating system capable of running on the computing deviceand performing the operations described herein. Typical operatingsystems include, but are not limited to: WINDOWS 2000, WINDOWS Server2012, WINDOWS CE, WINDOWS Phone, WINDOWS XP, WINDOWS VISTA, and WINDOWS7, WINDOWS RT, WINDOWS 8 and WINDOW 10, all of which are manufactured byMicrosoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash.; MAC OS and iOS, manufactured byApple, Inc.; and Linux, a freely-available operating system, e.g. LinuxMint distribution (“distro”) or Ubuntu, distributed by Canonical Ltd. ofLondon, United Kingdom; or Unix or other Unix-like derivative operatingsystems; and Android, designed by Google Inc., among others. Someoperating systems, including, e.g., the CHROME OS by Google Inc., may beused on zero clients or thin clients, including, e.g., CHROMEBOOKS.

The computer system 100 can be any workstation, telephone, desktopcomputer, laptop or notebook computer, netbook, ULTRABOOK, tablet,server, handheld computer, mobile telephone, smartphone or otherportable telecommunications device, media playing device, a gamingsystem, mobile computing device, or any other type and/or form ofcomputing, telecommunications or media device that is capable ofcommunication. The computer system 100 has sufficient processor powerand memory capacity to perform the operations described herein. In someembodiments, the computing device 100 may have different processors,operating systems, and input devices consistent with the device. TheSamsung GALAXY smartphones, e.g., operate under the control of Androidoperating system developed by Google, Inc. GALAXY smartphones receiveinput via a touch interface.

In some embodiments, the computing device 100 is a gaming system. Forexample, the computer system 100 may comprise a PLAYSTATION 3, orPERSONAL PLAYSTATION PORTABLE (PSP), or a PLAYSTATION VITA devicemanufactured by the Sony Corporation of Tokyo, Japan, or a NINTENDO DS,NINTENDO 3DS, NINTENDO WII, or a NINTENDO WII U device manufactured byNintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, or an XBOX 360 device manufacturedby Microsoft Corporation.

In some embodiments, the computing device 100 is a digital audio playersuch as the Apple IPOD, IPOD Touch, and IPOD NANO lines of devices,manufactured by Apple Computer of Cupertino, Calif. Some digital audioplayers may have other functionality, including, e.g., a gaming systemor any functionality made available by an application from a digitalapplication distribution platform. For example, the IPOD Touch mayaccess the Apple App Store. In some embodiments, the computing device100 is a portable media player or digital audio player supporting fileformats including, but not limited to, MP3, WAV, M4A/AAC, WMA ProtectedAAC, AIFF, Audible audiobook, Apple Lossless audio file formats and.mov, .m4v, and .mp4 MPEG-4 (H.264/MPEG-4 AVC) video file formats.

In some embodiments, the computing device 100 is a tablet e.g. the IPADline of devices by Apple; GALAXY TAB family of devices by Samsung; orKINDLE FIRE, by Amazon.com, Inc. of Seattle, Wash. In other embodiments,the computing device 100 is an eBook reader, e.g. the KINDLE family ofdevices by Amazon.com, or NOOK family of devices by Barnes & Noble, Inc.of New York City, N.Y.

In some embodiments, the communications device 102 includes acombination of devices, e.g. a smartphone combined with a digital audioplayer or portable media player. For example, one of these embodimentsis a smartphone, e.g. the iPhone family of smartphones manufactured byApple, Inc.; a Samsung GALAXY family of smartphones manufactured bySamsung, Inc; or a Motorola DROID family of smartphones. In yet anotherembodiment, the communications device 102 is a laptop or desktopcomputer equipped with a web browser and a microphone and speakersystem, e.g. a telephony headset. In these embodiments, thecommunications devices 102 are web-enabled and can receive and initiatephone calls. In some embodiments, a laptop or desktop computer is alsoequipped with a webcam or other video capture device that enables videochat and video call.

In some embodiments, the status of one or more machines 102, 106 in thenetwork 104 is monitored, generally as part of network management. Inone of these embodiments, the status of a machine may include anidentification of load information (e.g., the number of processes on themachine, CPU and memory utilization), of port information (e.g., thenumber of available communication ports and the port addresses), or ofsession status (e.g., the duration and type of processes, and whether aprocess is active or idle). In another of these embodiments, thisinformation may be identified by a plurality of metrics, and theplurality of metrics can be applied at least in part towards decisionsin load distribution, network traffic management, and network failurerecovery as well as any aspects of operations of the present solutiondescribed herein. Aspects of the operating environments and componentsdescribed above will become apparent in the context of the systems andmethods disclosed herein.

B. Security Awareness Training Systems and Methods

The following describes systems and methods of creating, controlling andexecuting security awareness training campaigns that utilized breachedpassword information to minimize ongoing risk to an organization fromuser behaviors which magnify the severity of a breached or compromisedpassword.

A system can be configured to send simulated phishing emails, textmessages, phone calls (e.g. via VoIP), video and Internet basedcommunications, all which may be referred to as “electronic training” orsimply “training”. The system may vary the quantity, frequency, type,sophistication, content, timing, and combination of training. A set oftraining emails, text messages, phone calls, video and/or Internet basedcommunications (“electronic training content”) sent to one or more usersmay be referred to as a training campaign. In some implementations, someor all of the electronic training content in a training campaign may beused to inform a user or group of users about risks and/or bestpractices for a particular subject. In some examples, all of theelectronic training content in a training campaign relates to oneparticular subject. In embodiments, all of the electronic trainingcontent in a training campaign relates to more than one subject in agroup of subjects with a common theme. In some implementations,traditional training content, such as posters, handouts, flyers, groupseminars, and the like, may be provided in addition or as a complementto electronic training content.

A training campaign may be intended to lure the user to perform anaction that is considered a risk to an IT system, in order to create ateachable moment where the user can be shown how their action cancompromise the system. In some implementations, electronic trainingcontent can be configured to look like genuine messages from internal ITsystems, external platforms, or other trusted senders in an attempt tolure the user to interact with it. In some implementations, electronictraining content of a training campaign may be intended to lure the userto provide personal information such as user names, passwords,identification numbers, account numbers, or to change their password.The desired user response is referred to as the ‘action’, or the‘requested action’, or the ‘desired action’. If the user performs therequested action, then the system can respond with training, which maybe called “remedial training”.

In some implementations, the system may adaptively learn the best method(e.g., set of steps) and/or the best combination of electronic contentto get the user to perform the requested action, such as providing ausername and password or changing their password. The learning processimplemented by the system can be trained by observing the behavior ofother users in the same company or in the same industry, by observingthe behavior of all other users of the system, or by observing thebehavior of a subset of other users in the system based on one or moreattributes of the subset of other users meeting one or more selectedcriteria.

The system can record when and how the requested action was performedand can produce reports about the requested actions. In particular, ifthe requested action is for the user to change their password, thesystem can record the old password and the new password and examine thenew password, on its own or in light of the old password, to determineif the changed password meets best practices. Where the electronictraining content was sent to multiple users, in some examples the systemcan track whether more than one user changed their password to the samepassword, or similar passwords.

In some implementations, the system may provide training on why a usershould not have performed a requested action at the time that the userperforms the requested action. In some implementations, the system mayadd users that performed requested actions to specific user groups thatare scheduled to receive general or targeted remedial training at sometime in the future. In some implementations, the system may assign auser attribute to a user that performed the requested action, and theuser attributes may be used to create query-based groups for futuretraining campaigns. In embodiments, the user may be prevented from usingtheir IT systems in a normal operational mode until the user completesremedial training.

A security awareness system may keep logs from previous trainingcampaigns, including all actions performed on a user and all useractions performed, which may in some examples be used to inform futurecampaigns. A security awareness system may further use information fromevent logs, for example Windows event logs, as well as learningmanagement system (LMS) analysis, which may inform the securityawareness system what training a user has had, where the user performedwell and where the user struggled with the training that the usercompleted, and what the user should know. A security awareness systemmay use information from company profiling activities, for example emailexposure check results, applications used, software as a service (SaaS)services used, etc. A security awareness system may use information fromindustry profiles corresponding to an industry that a user's company isassociated with.

In some embodiments, a security awareness system is capable ofperforming risk analysis of users, groups of users, or a company. Forexample, a security awareness system may be able to perform a riskprofile of a user with respect to password usage. In some embodiments, asecurity awareness system can track events in a company and/or for auser in a company to identify one or more risk points, for example, insome embodiments, a system can track information that a given user isexposed to, in order to identify a risk point. For example, employees ina company that regularly deal with wire transfers may be likely to be ata higher risk for wire transfer fraud, and people that are exposed tosensitive information may be at a higher risk for leaking intellectualproperty. In examples, a system can track the presence of a user'saccount information in an external breached password database.

In some embodiments, a security awareness system training campaignduration is limited to a fixed period of time, for example a fixednumber of days. In some embodiments, a security awareness trainingcampaign will terminate once a certain percentage of users fail thecampaign, for example in a fixed period of time. In some embodiments, asecurity awareness training campaign stops when a certain percentage ofusers demonstrate compliance with one or more IT policies or procedures.

Referring to FIG. 2A in a general overview, FIG. 2A depicts some of theserver architecture of an implementation of a system 200 capable ofcreating, controlling and executing electronic campaigns, settingpassword IT policies, and creating, controlling and utilizing riskscores with based on password usage. In some implementations, system 200includes server 106 and client 102 and network 104 allowingcommunication between these system components. Server 106 may includepassword electronic training campaign manager 210, password IT policymanager 222, and risk score manager 234. Password electronic trainingcampaign manager 210 may include user interface manager 212, customizedtraining generator 214, which may include virtual machine 216. In someimplementations, system 200 may include training completion monitor 220,and storage for password training modules 218. Password IT policymanager 222 may include password sharing detection manager 228, weakpassword detection manager 240, and password IT policy compliancemanager 242. In some embodiments, password IT policy manager 222 mayinclude entity IT policies storage 230 and/or user IT policies storage232.

In some implementations, system 200 includes risk score manager 234,which may include entity risk score storage 246 and/or user risk scoresstorage 238. System 200 may include one or more external breachedpassword databases 240, which server 106 and client 102 can communicatewith over network 104.

Referring again to FIG. 2A in more detail, password electronic trainingcampaign manager 210 generally manages the process of curating, sending,and analyzing one or more training campaigns to train users about securepassword usage. Password electronic training campaign manager 210 maycommunicate with one or more external breached password databases 240,for example those available on the “dark web”. Examples of externalbreached password services that use such databases include “Have I BeenPwned” (Troy Hunt), which curates data based on breaches where personaldata is exposed to persons who should not have been able to view it. Inother examples, password breach data from external databases such as“Have I Been Pwned” is integrated into the IT system via an API servicewhich can be accessed over network 104.

In examples, password electronic training campaign manager 210 includescustomized training generator 214, which may be implemented as orcontain virtual machine 216. In examples, customized training generator214 is operable to integrate information from one or more of password ITpolicy manager 222, external breached password database 240, client 102,and risk score manager 234, to generate training campaigns related topassword usage. In some examples, customized training generator 214 maygenerated training campaigns that are specific to a single user. Inexamples, customized training manager generates training campaigns thatare applicable to multiple users, groups of users, or users associatedwith an entity. Password electronic training campaign manager 210 mayinclude user interface manager 212. In some examples, responsive to auser input, password electronic training campaign manager 210 generatesa training campaign, including one or more password training modulesfrom password training modules storage 218. In some examples, passwordelectronic training campaign manager 210 generates a training campaign,including one or more password training modules from password trainingmodules storage 218, responsive to one or more inputs from risk scoremanager 234, password IT policy manager 222, and/or client 102. Forexample, password electronic training campaign manager 210 may generatea training campaign for a user responsive to a change in a user riskscore from risk score manager 234. In examples, password electronictraining campaign manager 210 may generate a training campaign for usersassociated with an entity responsive to a change in an entity risk scorefrom risk score manager 234. In examples, password electronic trainingcampaign manager 210 may generate a training campaign for users and/orfor an entity responsive to a user or a user's password appearing inexternal breached password database 240. a change in an entity riskscore from risk score manager 234.

The password electronic training campaign manager 210 may manage variousaspects of an electronic training campaign. For example, the passwordelectronic training campaign manager 210 may process input from server106 and/or may provide access as needed to various applications,modules, and other software components of server 106 to other variousapplications, modules, and other software components of server 106. Thepassword electronic training campaign manager 210 may monitor andcontrol timing of various aspects of a training campaign, may processrequests for access to training campaign results, and/or may performother tasks related to the management of a password training campaign.

In some embodiments, the password electronic training campaign manager210 may be integrated with or coupled to memory 122. In someembodiments, memory 122 may include any type and form of storage, suchas a database or file system. Memory 122 may store data such asparameters and scripts corresponding to the choices made by server 106through password electronic training campaign manager 210, e.g. asdescribed above for a particular training campaign.

In an implementation, the password electronic training campaign manager210 includes a simulated customized training generator 214. Customizedtraining generator 214 may be integrated with or coupled to memory 122,so as to provide the customized training generator 214 access toparameters associated with messaging choices made for a particulartraining campaign by e.g. the server 106. Customized training generator214 may be integrated with or coupled to memory or a memory store orotherwise a storage, such as a database, containing password trainingmodules 218. Customized training generator 214 may be an application,service, daemon, routine, or other executable logic for generatingtraining. The training generated by customized training generator 214may be of any appropriate format. For example, they may be emailmessages, text or SMS messages, messages used by particular messagingapplications such as, e.g. WhatsApp™ (Facebook, Menlo Park, Calif.), orany other type of message. They may be videos, documents, interactivegames, interactive chats, or other content types to be used in aparticular training campaign selected by e.g. server 106 using passwordelectronic training campaign manager 210. Messages and/or content may begenerated in any appropriate manner, e.g. by running an instance of anapplication that generates the desired message type, such as runninge.g. a Gmail™ application (Google, Mountain View, Calif.), MicrosoftOutlook™ (Microsoft, Redmond, Wash.), a text messaging application, orany other appropriate application. The messages may be generated byrunning a messaging application on e.g. virtual machine 216 or maysimply be run on an operating system of server 106 or may be run in anyother appropriate environment. The messages may be generated to beformatted consistent with specific messaging platforms, for exampleOutlook 365 (Microsoft, Redmond, Wash.), Outlook Web Access (OWA)(Microsoft, Redmond, Wash.), Webmail, iOS (Apple, Cupertino, Calif.),Gmail client (Google, Mountain View, Calif.), and so on.

In some embodiments, the customized training generator 214 can beconfigured to generate messages having the ability to traverse users whointeract with the messages to a specific landing page to provide furthertraining.

In some embodiments, customized training generator 214 can be configuredto generate a simulated phishing email which tests one or more passwordIT policies. The email can appear to be delivered from a trusted emailaddress, such as the email address of an executive of the company atwhich the targeted user is employed. In addition, the email can have a“Subject:” field that is intended to cause the user to take an action,such as sending their password or credentials or changing theirpassword. In some embodiments, customized training generator 214 cangenerate one or more simulated phishing emails which are stored in thepassword training modules storage 218. In some embodiments, customizedtraining generator 214 can generate multiple instances of the emailwhich may be delivered to multiple users, such as a subset of all of theemployees of the company. In some embodiments, customized traininggenerator 214 can generate multiple instances of the email which may bedelivered to a user group. For example, server 106 can select any numberof employees who should be targeted by a simulated password trainingtest, can create a user group and store this user group in memory 122.Customized training generator 214 can retrieve this information frommemory 122 and can generate a set of emails similar to the email, eachaddressed to a respective target identified in the information stored inthe memory 122. That is, customized training generator 214 can generatethe emails such that the “From:” and “Subject:” fields of each email areidentical, while the “To:” field is adjusted according to the desiredtargets.

In an implementation, password electronic training campaign manager 210may be e.g., another name for a system administrator, such as a securitymanager, a third-party security consultant, a risk assessor, or anyother party that uses the password electronic training campaign manager210 installed on a server. Server 106 may wish to direct a simulatedpassword training test by interacting with the password electronictraining campaign manager 210 installed on the server. The passwordelectronic training campaign manager 210 may be, for example, a desktopcomputer, a laptop computer, a mobile device, or any other suitablecomputing device. The password electronic training campaign manager 210may be e.g., an application on a device that allows for a user of thedevice to interact with server 106 for e.g. purposes of creating,configuring, tailoring and/or executing a simulated password trainingtest and/or viewing and/or processing and/or analyzing the results of asimulated password training test.

In an implementation, password electronic training campaign manager 210,when executed, causes a graphical user interface to be displayed toserver 106. In other embodiments, password electronic training campaignmanager 210 allows for user input through a non-graphical userinterface, such as a user interface that accepts text or vocal inputwithout displaying an interactive image. A graphical user interface maybe displayed on a screen of a mobile phone, or a monitor connected to adesktop or laptop computer or may be displayed on any other display. Theuser may interact with e.g. the graphical user interface on the deviceby typing, clicking a mouse, tapping, speaking, or any other method ofinteracting with a user interface. The graphical user interface on thedevice may be a web-based user interface provided by a web browser (e.g.Google Chrome (Google, Mountain View, Calif.), Microsoft InternetExplorer (Microsoft, Redmond, Wash.), or Mozilla Firefox (MozillaFoundation of Mountain View, Calif.), or may be an application installedon a user device capable of opening a network connection to passwordelectronic training campaign manager 210 or may be any other type ofinterface.

In an implementation, password electronic training campaign manager 210and/or server 106 may make choices concerning how password training isto be carried out. For example, a graphical user interface run bypassword electronic training campaign manager 210 may be displayed toserver 106. An administrator, via server 106, may input parameters forthe training that affect how it will be carried out. For example, viaserver 106 an administrator may make choices as to which users toinclude as potential recipients of the training, the method ofdetermining which users are to be selected as potential recipients ofthe training, the timing of various aspects of the training, whether touse a training module that includes values for one or a plurality ofpassword failure indicators, how responses from targeted users should beuniquely identified, and other choices. These choices may be made byselecting options displayed on a graphical user interface from dropdownmenus, being presented with choices through a training wizard, or in anyother appropriate manner.

In an implementation, the password electronic training campaign manager210 may allow server 106, such as via application programming interfaces(APIs), to access and/or change settings of an account maintained withany party involved with the training, such as, for example, a thirdparty security service provider, or may allow server 106 to accessand/or change settings of an account maintained with a third partysecurity service provider, such as one that e.g. manages an exploitserver, view bills and/or make payments to a third party securityservice provider, to perform these functions with other third partiesinvolved in the training, or provide any other functions that would beappropriate for facilitating communications between server 106 and anyother parties involved in the training.

The server 106 may include risk score manager 234. Risk score manager234 may process input from server 106 and/or may provide access asneeded to various applications, modules, and other software componentsof server 106 to other various applications, modules, and other softwarecomponents of server 106. Risk score manager 234 may monitor and controlinputs and various other system aspects which would lead to theadjustment of user or entity risk scores, for example in response toupdated information in external breached password database 240, orinputs from password sharing detection manager 228, weak passworddetection manager 240, password IT policy compliance manager 242, and/ortraining completion monitor 220. Risk score manager 234 may update userrisk scores in user risk scores storage 238, and/or entity risk scoresin entity risk scores storage 236, in response to completion of one ormore training modules and/or training campaigns and may process requestsfor access to risk scores and/or may perform other tasks related to themanagement of risk scores for users and/or entities. In someembodiments, risk score manager 234 may be integrated with or coupled tomemory 122. In some embodiments, the memory may include any type andform of storage, such as a database or file system. Memory 122 may storedata such as parameters and scripts corresponding to the choices made byserver 106 through risk score manager 234, e.g. as described above for aparticular training campaign.

The user and/or entity risk scores may include a reference identifiersand/or time stamps, which enable risk score manager 234 to track riskscores over time. The reference identifier for a user and/or entity maybe integrated with or coupled to memory or a memory store or otherwise astorage, such as a database, containing reference identifiers. Thereference identifier may be an application, service, daemon, routine, orother executable logic for recognizing reference identifiers andassociating reference identifiers with a particular user or entity. Whenthe system provides training to a user, the training may include theuser's reference identifier in the metadata of the training, which maybe used by system 200 to track the details and timing of the deliveryand completion of training provided to the user. In some examples,password IT policy manager 222 and/or password electronic trainingcampaign manager 210 may use a reference identifier to make inquiries,respond to inquiries, and generate reports for a user or group of users.Password electronic training campaign manager may alert password ITpolicy manager 222 when a user, or a group of users, has failed thepassword security awareness training. In some embodiments, the referenceidentifier may be used in alerts and notifications to identify aparticular user.

Password electronic training campaign manager 210, password IT policymanager 222, and risk score manager 234 may be an application, service,daemon, routine, or other executable logic.

Server 106 may include password IT policy manager 222. Password ITpolicy manager 222 may process input from server 106 and/or may provideaccess as needed to various applications, modules, and other softwarecomponents of server 106 to other various applications, modules, andother software components of server 106. Password IT policy manager 222may monitor and control password IT policies for users, groups of users,and/or entities when a user or a user's password appears in an externalbreached password database 240, and/or when a user successfullycompletes password electronic training. In some embodiments, password ITpolicy manager 222 may be integrated with or coupled to memory 122. Insome embodiments, the memory may include any type and form of storage,such as a database or file system. The memory 122 may store data such asparameters and scripts corresponding to the choices made by a server 106through a password IT policy manager 222, e.g. as described above for aparticular password breach or password training.

Password IT policy manager 222 may include user passwords storage 224.In some examples, user passwords storage 224 includes the most recentpasswords of all users in the organization. In some examples, userpasswords storage 224 includes a history record one or more passwordsfor each user in the organization. User passwords stored in userpasswords storage 224 may be structured in one or more records, whereeach record corresponds to a given user and each record comprises all ofthe passwords the user has used at the organization. In some examples,user passwords in user passwords storage may be stored in records whereeach record consists of more than one field, for example the records mayconcatenate one or more of “user”, “password”, “date set”, “datechanged”, “device used”, “prompted yes/no”, etc. Passwords stored inuser passwords storage 224 may be stored as a hash, such as a SHA-1 hashof a UTF-8 encoded password.

Password IT policy manager 222 may include user breach history storage226. Password IT policy manager 222 may interact with external breachedpassword database 240 through network 104. In some examples, password ITpolicy manager 222 may access external breached password database 240through an API, in some examples using one or more search terms. Inexamples, the API is used to return a list of all breaches that aparticular account has been involved in. In embodiments, the API takes asingle parameter from password IT policy manager 222, which in someexamples is the account to be searched for in URL encoded format. Insome embodiments, password IT policy manager 222 may search externalbreached password database 240 using one or more domain names. In someembodiments, password IT policy manager 222 may subscribe to be notifiedof any future breaches of accounts on one or more domains. Externalbreached password database 222 may utilize data classes, which areattributes of records compromised in a breach. Examples of data classesare “email addresses” and “passwords”. Other attributes may include“domain”, “breach date and time”, “added date and time”, “modified dateand time”.

In examples, password IT policy manager 222 may subscribe to an RSS feedassociated with external breached password database 240. In someexamples, password IT policy manager 222 may provide one or more userpasswords to external breached password database, in some cases in plaintext and in some cases hashed or encrypted, in order to determine if theone or more user passwords has been compromised. Details related to userbreaches are stored in user breach history storage 226.

Password IT policy manager 222 may include password sharing detectionmanager 228. In some examples, password sharing detection manager 228accesses user passwords from user passwords storage 224. In embodiments,password sharing detection manager 228 is configured to detect the samepassword across one or more users. In examples, password sharingdetection manager 228 is configured to detect concurrent use of the samepassword across one or more users. In some examples, password sharingdetection manager 228 is configured to detect the use of the samepassword across one or more users over time. For example, user A usedpassword “password1” a year ago but no longer uses it now, and user Bused password “password1” two years ago but no longer uses it now, anduser C uses “password1” now. In embodiments, password sharing detectionmanager may create an entity IT policy to be stored in entity ITpolicies storage 230 or a user IT policy to be stored in user ITpolicies storage 232, which may, for example, prevent a user fromsetting a specific password such as “password1”, or may prevent a userfrom setting a password that is being used by another user, or has beenused by another user in the past period of time, or has been used byanother user at any time in the past. In embodiments, password sharingdetection manager 228 communicates instances of determined passwordsharing to risk score manager 234, which may, in some examples, modifyuser risk scores and/or entity risk scores. In embodiments, passwordsharing detection manager 228 communicates instances of determinedpassword sharing to password electronic training campaign manager 210,which may, in some examples, provide remedial training or queue on ormore users to take remedial training at a future time.

In some examples, password IT policy manager 222 may include weakpassword detection manager 240. In embodiments, weak password detectionmanager uses IT policies, for example IT policies stored in entity ITpolicies storage 230 and/or IT policies stored in user IT policies 232to look for weak password use by users or by entities. In some examples,weak password detection manager uses rules for weak passwords that areinput by an administrator. In embodiments, password IT policy manager222 runs weak password tests based on one or more rules for weakpasswords against user passwords stored in user passwords storage 224.In embodiments, password IT policy manager 222 runs weak password testsbased on one or more rules for weak passwords against user passwordsstored in an active directory domain. In embodiments, weak passworddetection manager 228 communicates instances of weak passwords to riskscore manager 234, which may, in some examples, modify user risk scoresand/or entity risk scores. In embodiments, weak password detectionmanager 228 communicates instances of weak passwords to passwordelectronic training campaign manager 210, which may, in some examples,provide remedial training or queue one or more users to take remedialtraining at a future time.

In some examples, password IT policy manager 222 may include password ITpolicy compliance manager 242. In embodiments, password IT policycompliance manager 242 screens user passwords when they are set and/orchanged to ensure that the passwords meet user IT policies and/or entityIT policies. In some examples, password IT policy compliance manger 242indicates to password electronic training campaign manager 210 if a userattempts to set a password which is not compliant to user IT policiesand/or entity IT policies, such that password electronic trainingcampaign manager may provide remedial training to the one or more usersthat attempted to set passwords that are not compliant with IT policies.

In some examples the password electronic training campaign manager 210may indicate to the password IT policy manager 222 an increase in thenumber of users being recommended for training. This may indicate thatthe number users that have been victim to a password breach isincreasing. In some examples the password electronic training campaignmanager 210 may indicate to password IT policy manager 222 that arevision of the IT policy is appropriate. In some embodiments, a systemadministrator is notified that a revision of a user IT policy or anentity IT policy is appropriate. The system administrator, via passwordIT policy manager 222, may update one or more of a user IT policy and/orand entity IT policy. In some examples when a user IT policy and/or anentity IT policy is created or modified, password IT policy manager 222may inform password electronic training campaign manager 210. Responsiveto receiving notification of changed IT policies, password electronictraining campaign manager 210 may initiate one or more trainingcampaigns to train one or more users or groups of users about the new ITpolicy. In some examples, when user IT policies and/or entity ITpolicies are updated, password IT policy compliance manager may checkall existing user passwords against the new policies, looking for anypasswords which may have met previous policies but no longer meetcurrent policies, and may prompt the one or more users to select a newpassword. Password IT policy compliance manager may check any updatedpassword that a user tries to set to determine if that password has beenpart of a breach and cause client 102 to reject the updated password.

Server 106 may include risk score manager 234. A risk score is arepresentation of a user or group of users vulnerability to a maliciousattack. In some examples, risk score manager 234 calculates one or morerisk scores based on training history, phishing history, responses tosimulated phishing tests, demographic information, information about theorganization, password breach data, and data which may be obtained froma Security Information Management (SIM) service. In some embodiments, arisk score framework is created, which outlines the data that isconsidered in creating the risk score such as the frequency a userreceives phishing attacks, the severity of those attacks, and the methodof calculating the risk score. In some embodiments, a variety of datasources may be incorporated. In some examples, records reflecting userpassword use may be incorporated. The sophistication of the user'schoice of passwords and how strong their passwords are may beintegrated. In some examples, an indication of how different passwordsthat a user has used over time may be included in the risk score. Insome examples, input from password sharing detection manager 228 withrespect to whether or not the user has ever used the same password assomeone else, in integrated into the determination of the risk score. Inembodiments, input from weak password detection manager 240 with respectto whether or not the user has ever tried to use a weak password isintegrated into the determination of the risk score. In someembodiments, the user's compliance to IT policies, as determined bypassword IT policy compliance manager 242, is incorporated into userrisk scores 238 by the risk score manager 234. In examples, aggregateinformation about one or more users who share the same organization maybe used to determine entity risk scores.

In embodiments, user training records are integrated from trainingcompletion monitor 220 as a source of information used in the creationof user risk scores 238 and/or entity risk scores 236. For example, thetraining that the user has completed, the time spent engaged in trainingactivities, the duration of the training modules that the user hascompleted, and other details related to training or learning aboutpassword use and password breaches is incorporated by risk score manager234 in risk user risk scores 238 and entity risk scores 236.

In some examples, weak password detection manager 240 uses IT policies,for example IT policies stored in entity IT policies storage 230 and/orIT policies stored in user IT policies 232 to look for weak password useby users or by entities. In some examples, weak password detectionmanager 240 uses rules for weak passwords that are input by anadministrator. In embodiments, password IT policy manager 222 runs weakpassword tests based on one or more rules for weak passwords againstuser passwords stored in user passwords storage 224. In embodiments,password IT policy manager 222 runs weak password tests based on one ormore rules for weak passwords against user passwords stored in an activedirectory domain. In embodiments, weak password detection manager 228communicates instances of weak passwords to risk score manager 234,which may, in some examples, modify user risk scores and/or entity riskscores. In embodiments, weak password detection manager 228 communicatesinstances of weak passwords to password electronic training campaignmanager 210, which may, in some examples, provide remedial training orqueue one or more users to take remedial training at a future time.

In some embodiments, password electronic training manager 210 may sendthe user a link through a message directing the user to remedialtraining. In some examples, the user may be prevented from accessingsome functions on a user device unless or until the user completes oneor more remedial training modules. In some examples, the system may lockprocesses on the user's device and may generate a pop up which notifiesthe user that they need to complete remedial training. The remedialtraining may be part of the pop up that is displayed to the user on theuser device. The pop up which may be displayed on the user device mayinclude a link to a landing page where the user may access remedialtraining. In some examples, the training completion monitor 220 maytrack all the remedial training that is completed by the user, startedand not completed by the user, and not started by the user.

Each of the server 106, password electronic training manager 210, userinterface manager 212, customized training generator 214, trainingcompletion monitor 220, password IT policy manager 222, password sharingdetection manager 228, weak password detection manager 240, password ITpolicy compliance manager 242 and risk score manager 234 may comprise aprogram, service, task, script, library, application or any type andform of executable instructions or code executable on one or moreprocessors.

Any of the server 106, password electronic training manager 210, userinterface manager 212, customized training generator 214, trainingcompletion monitor 220, password IT policy manager 222, password sharingdetection manager 228, weak password detection manager 240, password ITpolicy compliance manager 242 and risk score manager 234 may be combinedinto one or more modules, applications, programs, services, tasks,scripts, libraries, applications, or executable code.

The server 106 may be a part of a cluster of servers 106. In someembodiments, tasks performed by server 106 may be performed by aplurality of servers. These tasks may be allocated among the pluralityof servers by an application, service, daemon, routine, or otherexecutable logic for task allocation. The server 106 may include aprocessor and memory. Some or all of server 106 may be hosted on cloud108, for example by Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Referring to FIG. 2B, in a general overview, FIG. 2B depicts some of theclient architecture of an implementation of a system 200 capable ofcreating, controlling and executing electronic campaigns, settingpassword IT policies, and creating, controlling and utilizing riskscores with based on password usage. The system 200 also includes theclient 102. The client 102 may include a communications module 250, awatch dog service 252, and a client service 254. The client 102 mayinclude a kernel 256 which may include a client driver 258. The clientmay include user console 270, which may include a core library (DLL)274, a process lock 282, and user pop up training 292. The client mayinclude one or more executing applications 288 and one or more messagingapplications 290 and may include a monitor library (DLL) 294. The clientmay include user interface 284 and display 286. Client 102 may include apassword change system 280.

Referring to FIG. 2B, in more detail, a client may be a victim of anydata breach. For example, the client may be an employee, member, orindependent contractor for an organization where the organization hasemployee names and employee email addresses stolen from where they arestored. Client 102 may be any device used by the client. The client doesnot need to own the device for it to be considered a client device 102.The client 102 may be any computing device, such as a desktop computer,a laptop, a mobile device, or any other computing device. In someembodiments, the client 102 may be a server or set of servers accessedby the client. For example, the client may be the employee or a memberof an organization. The client may access a server that is e.g. owned ormanaged or otherwise associated with the organization. Such a server maybe a client 102.

In some implementations, client 102 may include a communications module250. This may be a library, application programming interface (API), aset of scripts, or any other code that may facilitate communicationsbetween the client 102 and any of the server 106, a third-party server,or any other server. In some embodiments, the communications module 250determines when to transmit information from the client 102 to theexternal servers via a network 104. In some embodiments, thecommunications module 250 receives information from the server 106 via anetwork 104. In some embodiments, the information transmitted orreceived by the communications module 250 may correspond to a message,such as an email, generated or received by the messaging application290.

The client 102 may include a client service 254. The client service 254registers a client driver 258 into the operating system's kernel 256.The client driver 258 is designed to monitor certain processes withinthe operating system. The client service 254 ensures that client driver258 is installed properly into the operating system. Once the clientdriver 258 is registered, the client service 254 waits for othercritical startup programs to start (like winlogon.exe or explorer.exe inWindows), and then it starts a user console 270. The client service 254also restarts the user console 270 should it crash or be terminatedforcefully. The client service 254 is not associated with the user butis running in the background on the client all the time when started bythe watch dog service 252. The client service 254 interacts with theuser console 270 which runs in the user space allowing the system to popup messages that target the user with dialogs. In some examples, if theuser attempts to change their password to a password that does notcomply with one or more password IT policies, the client service 254 mayinteract with the user console 270 to create a pop up for the user andto activate the process lock 282 such that the user cannot use any ofthe processes running on the client device. The client 102 may includeuser pop up training 292 which is provided via the user pop up createdby the user console 270. The client service 254 also starts a userconsole 270 for every user that logs into a user profile. There may beseveral instances of the user console 270 for every logged in user. Theclient service 254 is a separate component that monitors and can in someinstances control the user console 270 when initiated (e.g., initiateuser pop up training 292, or temporarily pause execution of anapplication using the process lock 282, such as pausing execution of aweb browser).

The user console 270 runs in the user space of the operating system. Theuser console raises prompts, get replies, and takes care of everythingthat needs to be done interactively with the user. The user console 270is equipped with an internal library, the core library 274, which allowsit to detect processes being created or terminated by the operatingsystem. Whenever the OS creates a process, the user console detects itand may block the execution of the process using the process lock 282.The user console 270 can connect with the client service 254 for itssettings.

In some examples, client 102 may include a watch dog service 252. Thewatch dog service 252 starts and monitors the client service 254. Thewatch dog service 252 may be launched as a delayed service. Severalminutes after all the services start, the delayed services startrunning. When the watch dog service 252 starts up, it checks to see ifthe client service 254 is running. If this service is not running, thenthe watch dog service 252 starts this service. In another aspect, if anend user has advanced privileges and tries to kill the client services252, the watch dog service 254 will see that the service is not running,and it will start it up again. In this way, the watch dog service 254 isa failsafe to ensure that the client service 254 is always running. Thewatch dog service 252 can also stop the client service 254 or stop andrestart the client service 254.

In some embodiments, the client 102 may include a user interface 284such as a keyboard, a mouse, a touch screen, or other appropriate userinterface. This may be a user interface that is e.g. connected directlyto a client 102, such as, for example, a keyboard connected to a mobiledevice, or may be connected indirectly to a client 102, such as, forexample, a user interface of a client device used to access a serverclient 102. The client may include a display 286, such as a screen, amonitor connected to the device in any manner, or any other appropriatedisplay.

In an implementation, the client 102 may include a messaging application290. Messaging application 290 may be any application capable ofviewing, editing, and/or sending messages. For example, messagingapplication 290 may be an instance of an application that allows viewingof a desired message type, such as any web browser, a Gmail™ application(Google, Mountain View, Calif.), Microsoft Outlook™ (Microsoft, MountainView, Calif.), WhatsApp™ (Facebook, Menlo Park, Calif.), a textmessaging application, or any other appropriate application. In someembodiments, messaging application 290 can be configured to displaypassword electronic training.

The client 102 may include password change system 280. Password changesystem 280 may be part of the user client, e.g. may be a process thatruns on the user client 102. Password change system 280 may include userinterface 278. Password change system user interface 278 allows a userto provide input via the password change system. In some examples, theuser input via the password change system user interface 278 may be viaa keyed entry, for example via a keypad on the device.

In some examples, client 102 receives password electronic training sentby server 106 based upon a password training campaign created by customtraining generator 214 and executed by password electronic trainingcampaign manager 210. Client 102 may receive the simulated phishingmessages via messaging application 290, display the received messagesfor the user using display 286, and accept user interaction via userinterface 284 responsive to the displayed message. In some embodiments,if the user does not comply with user IT policy or entity it policy, theclient traverses on the client device to a landing page selected for thepassword electronic training campaign. The client 102 may lock processeson the client device until the user completes the electronic trainingcampaign.

Each of the client 102, messaging application 290, executing application288, client service 254, user console 270, phone system 280 and watchdog service 252 may comprise a program, service, task, script, library,application or any type and form of executable instructions or codeexecutable on one or more processors. Any of the client 102, messagingapplication 290, executing application 288, client service 254, userconsole 270 and watch dog service 252 may be combined into one or moremodules, applications, programs, services, tasks, scripts, libraries,applications, or executable code.

Referring to FIG. 3 in a general overview, FIG. 3 depicts animplementation of a method 300 for identifying providing electronicpassword training to one or more users that have passwords associatedwith one or more data breaches. In step 310, method 300 may includeexecuting a password breach test to determine users with passwordsassociated with one or more data breaches. In some examples, the method300 may include determining a plurality of users with passwordsassociated with one or more data breaches, and a type of password breachfor each of these users (step 320). Method 300 may include selecting oneor more users with a first type of password breach (step 330). In someembodiments, responsive to the selection and based on the type ofpassword breach, the method 300 may include generating an electronictraining campaign configured to train the one or more users on usingpasswords (step 340). Method 300 may include communicating theelectronic training campaign to one or more devices of the one or moreusers (step 350). In step 360, method 300 may include establishing arisk score for each of the plurality of users and/or for an entity basedon the type of password breach and/or the results from the electronictraining. Method 300 may also include changing one or more userproperties responsive to the user's risk score or an entity risk score(step 370).

Referring to FIG. 3 in more detail, FIG. 3 may include executing apassword breach test to determine users with passwords associated withone or more data breaches (step 310). In some examples, server 106 mayexecute a password breach test on users that are members of anorganization or employees of a company. In examples, server 106 mayexecute a password breach test on a subset of members of an organizationor on a subset of employees of a company. For example, server 106 mayexecute a password breach test on employees that have a risk score whichindicates that such employees may be more vulnerable to a passwordbreach. In some examples, server 106 may periodically execute a passwordbreach test on one or more users. The time between periodically executedpassword breach tests may be reduced for users that have a high riskscore, as compared to users that have a low risk score.

In some examples, server 106 may communicate with one or more externalbreached password databases 240 to determine one or more users have apassword that has been associated with a password breach. Server 106 mayquery external breached password database to determine which one or moreusers have been associated with a password breach. In some examples,server 106 may use an SQL query to query external breached passworddatabase 240. In some examples, server 106 may provide user emailaddresses, for example corporate user email addresses, in a query toeternal breached password database 240. In examples, server 106 mayprovide passwords in a query to external breached password database.Passwords provided may be encrypted and/or hashed, for example with aSHA-1 hash. In some embodiments, server 106 may register with externalbreached password database 240 to receive notifications if any user of alist of users has been associated with a data breach. In examples,server 106 may register with external breached password database 240 toreceive notifications if one or more passwords has been associated witha data breach.

In some examples, the method 300 may include determining a plurality ofusers with passwords associated with one or more data breaches, and atype of password breach for each of these users (step 320). In someexamples, the results of one or more breached password tests may be usedto determine a plurality of users with passwords associated with one ormore data breaches. In embodiments, server 106 may receive notice for athird-party system which monitors for password breaches for users. Insome embodiments, server 106 may classify data breaches into one or moretypes of data breaches. For example, one type of data breach is where auser's password has been associated with a breach. Another type of databreach is where a second user associated with the same (or a related)domain as the user has their password associated with a breach. Othertypes of data breaches include where a user has used the same passwordwith more than one login username or email address, and that passwordhas been associated with a breach for one of the login usernames oremail addresses. It may be possible for bad actors to associate thealternate username or email address with the user and hence gain accessto more accounts of the user. Upon determining one or more users of aplurality of users has a password associated with one or more databreaches, system 106 may for groups of users whereby members of a groupof users have been subject to the same type of password breach. Method300 may include selecting one or more users with a specific type ofpassword breach from a group of users who have been subject to the sametype of password breach (step 330). In some embodiments, responsive tothe information, the method 300 may include identifying the user asfailing to comply to user IT policies and/or entity IT policies.

In some embodiments, responsive to the selection and based on the typeof password breach, the method 300 may include generating an electronictraining campaign configured to train the one or more users on usingpasswords (step 340). In some examples, server 106 may select a userfrom a from a group of users who have been subject to the same type ofpassword breach. The user may be selected from a group of users thatshare a specific user characteristic. In one embodiment, the user may beselected from a group of users who have not received password electronictraining. The user may be identified through integration of thecompany's active directory. The user may be selected based on atime-based determination. For example, the user may be selected becauseof an amount of time that has passed since they last had passwordtraining, or for example the amount of time since the user had last beeninvolved in a data breach. A user or a group of users may be selectedbased on a risk profile for the user or group of users. For example, theuser may be selected because users that share similar characteristics tothe user have been historically more prone to password breaches. In someexamples, the content of the password electronic training can betailored to the user through knowledge of the user's situation orlocation, the type of user passwords that the user has historicallyused, the user breach history, the user's compliance to user IT policiesand/or entity IT policies, etc. Artificial intelligence and/or machinelearning may be used to create content that is targeted towards a useror group of users, for example by customized training generator 214. Insome embodiments, password electronic training campaign manager 210 mayuse, for example, knowledge of the user's situation or location, thetype of user passwords that the user has historically used, the userbreach history, the user's compliance to user IT policies and/or entityIT policies to select a predetermined template or set of templates thatmay be used, or may be modified to be used, for the password electronictraining campaign.

In some embodiments the method 300 may include generating an electronictraining campaign configured to train the one or more users on usingpasswords (step 340) where the campaign is selected based upon the typeof password breach that was detected. In some examples where a user isfound to have used a password associated with a breach related toanother user on the same (or related) domain, a training campaign thatteaches the risks associated with password sharing may be selected. Insome examples where the same password was found to be related to morethan one breach associated with that user, a training campaign thatteaches the risks associated with password reuse may be selected.

Method 300 may include communicating the password electronic trainingcampaign to one or more devices of the one or more users (step 350).Password electronic training can be delivered to the user by sending theuser a new message with a link that takes them to the remedial trainingmaterials. The client service 254 may create a pop up on a user deviceusing the user console 270. In some examples the user console 270generates the pop up immediately after the user's password has beendetermined to be associated with a breach. In some examples, the userconsole 270 generates the pop up after user's password has beendetermined to be associated with a breach and when the user next triesto access their device. In some examples, the system may lock processeson the user's device and may generate a pop up which notifies the userthat they need to complete remedial training. The remedial training maybe part of the pop up that is displayed to the user on the user device.The pop up which may be displayed on the user device may include a linkto a landing page where the user may access remedial training. In someexamples, the training completion monitor 220 may track all the remedialtraining that is completed by the user, started and not completed by theuser, and not started by the user.

Client service 254 interacts with user console 270 which runs in theuser space allowing the system to pop up messages that target the userwith dialogs. If the user's password has been associated with a databreach, client service 254 may interact with user console 270 to createa pop up for the user and to activate process lock 282 such that theuser cannot use any of the processes running on the client device. Theclient 102 may include user pop up training 292 which is provided viathe user pop up created by user console 270. Client service 254 may alsostart a user console 270 for every user that logs into a user profile.There may be several instances of the user console 270 for every loggedin user. Client service 254 monitors and can in some instances controluser console 270 when initiated (e.g., initiate user pop up training292, or temporarily pause execution of an application using process lock282, such as pausing execution of a web browser).

The training generated by customized training generator 214 may be ofany appropriate format. For example, training may be provided in theform of email messages, text or SMS messages, messages used byparticular messaging applications such as, e.g. WhatsApp™ (Facebook,Menlo Park, Calif.), or any other type of message. Training may beprovided as videos, documents, interactive games, interactive chats, orother content types to be used in a particular training campaignselected by e.g. server 106 using password electronic training campaignmanager 210. Messages and/or content may be generated in any appropriatemanner, e.g. by running an instance of an application that generates thedesired message type, such as running e.g. a Gmail™ application (Google,Mountain View, Calif.), Microsoft Outlook™ (Microsoft, Redmond, Wash.),a text messaging application, or any other appropriate application. Themessages may be generated by running a messaging application on e.g.virtual machine 216 or may simply be run on an operating system ofserver 106 or may be run in any other appropriate environment. Themessages may be generated to be formatted consistent with specificmessaging platforms, for example Outlook 365 (Microsoft, Redmond,Wash.), Outlook Web Access (OWA) (Microsoft, Redmond, Wash.), Webmail,iOS (Apple, Cupertino, Calif.), Gmail client (Google, Mountain View,Calif.), and so on. In some embodiments, the customized traininggenerator 214 can be configured to generate messages having the abilityto traverse users who interact with the messages to a specific landingpage to provide further training.

In some embodiments, customized training generator 214 can be configuredto generate a simulated phishing email which tests one or more passwordIT policies. The email can appear to be delivered from a trusted emailaddress, such as the email address of an executive of the company atwhich the targeted user is employed. In addition, the email can have a“Subject:” field that is intended to cause the user to take an action,such as sending their password or credentials or changing theirpassword. In some embodiments, customized training generator 214 cangenerate one or more simulated phishing emails which are stored in thepassword training modules storage 218. In some embodiments, customizedtraining generator 214 can generate multiple instances of the emailwhich may be delivered to multiple users, such as a subset of all of theemployees of the company. In some embodiments, customized traininggenerator 214 can generate multiple instances of the email which may bedelivered to a user group. For example, server 106 can select any numberof employees who should be targeted by a simulated password trainingtest, can create a user group and store this user group in memory 122.Customized training generator 214 can retrieve this information frommemory 122 and can generate a set of emails similar to the email, eachaddressed to a respective target identified in the information stored inthe memory 122. That is, customized training generator 214 can generatethe emails such that the “From:” and “Subject:” fields of each email areidentical, while the “To:” field is adjusted according to the desiredtargets.

In an implementation, password electronic training campaign manager 210may be e.g., another name for a system administrator, such as a securitymanager, a third-party security consultant, a risk assessor, or anyother party that uses the password electronic training campaign manager210 installed on a server. Server 106 may wish to direct a simulatedpassword training test by interacting with the password electronictraining campaign manager 210 installed on the server. In animplementation, password electronic training campaign manager 210, whenexecuted, causes a graphical user interface to be displayed to server106. In other embodiments, password electronic training campaign manager210 allows for user input through a non-graphical user interface, suchas a user interface that accepts text or vocal input without displayingan interactive image.

In an implementation, password electronic training campaign manager 210and/or server 106 may make choices concerning how password training isto be carried out. For example, a graphical user interface run bypassword electronic training campaign manager 210 may be displayed toserver 106. An administrator, via server 106, may input parameters forthe training that affect how it will be carried out. For example, viaserver 106 an administrator may make choices as to which users toinclude as potential recipients of the training, the method ofdetermining which users are to be selected as potential recipients ofthe training, the timing of various aspects of the training, whether touse a training module that includes values for one or a plurality ofpassword failure indicators, how responses from targeted users should beuniquely identified, and other choices. These choices may be made byselecting options displayed on a graphical user interface from dropdownmenus, being presented with choices through a training wizard, or in anyother appropriate manner.

In an implementation, the password electronic training campaign manager210 may allow server 106, such as via application programming interfaces(APIs), to access and/or change settings of an account maintained withany party involved with the training, such as, for example, a thirdparty security service provider, or may allow server 106 to accessand/or change settings of an account maintained with a third partysecurity service provider, such as one that e.g. manages an exploitserver, view bills and/or make payments to a third party securityservice provider, to perform these functions with other third partiesinvolved in the training, or provide any other functions that would beappropriate for facilitating communications between server 106 and anyother parties involved in the training.

In step 360, method 300 may include establishing a risk score for eachof the plurality of users and/or for an entity based on the type ofpassword breach and/or the results from the electronic training.

Method 300 may also include changing one or more user propertiesresponsive to the user's risk score or an entity risk score (step 370).Risk score manager 234 may monitor and control inputs and various othersystem aspects which would lead to the adjustment of user or entity riskscores, for example in response to updated information in externalbreached password database 240, or inputs from password sharingdetection manager 228, weak password detection manager 240, password ITpolicy compliance manager 242, and/or training completion monitor 220.Risk score manager 234 may update user risk scores in user risk scoresstorage 238, and/or entity risk scores in entity risk scores storage236, in response to completion of one or more training modules and/ortraining campaigns and may process requests for access to risk scoresand/or may perform other tasks related to the management of risk scoresfor users and/or entities.

The user and/or entity risk scores may include a reference identifiersand/or time stamps, which enable risk score manager 234 to track riskscores over time. When the system provides training to a user, thetraining may include the user's reference identifier in the metadata ofthe training, which may be used by system 200 to track the details andtiming of the delivery and completion of training provided to the user.In some examples, password IT policy manager 222 and/or passwordelectronic training campaign manager 210 may use a reference identifierto make inquiries, respond to inquiries, and generate reports for a useror group of users. Password electronic training campaign manager 210 mayalert password IT policy manager 222 when a user, or a group of users,has failed the password security awareness training. In someembodiments, the reference identifier may be used in alerts andnotifications to identify a particular user.

The systems described above may provide multiple ones of any or each ofthose components and these components may be provided on either astandalone machine or, in some embodiments, on multiple machines in adistributed system. The systems and methods described above may beimplemented as a method, apparatus or article of manufacture usingprogramming and/or engineering techniques to produce software, firmware,hardware, or any combination thereof. In addition, the systems andmethods described above may be provided as one or more computer-readableprograms embodied on or in one or more articles of manufacture. The term“article of manufacture” as used herein is intended to encompass code orlogic accessible from and embedded in one or more computer-readabledevices, firmware, programmable logic, memory devices (e.g., EEPROMs,ROMs, PROMS, RAMS, SRAMs, etc.), hardware (e.g., integrated circuitchip, Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), Application SpecificIntegrated Circuit (ASIC), etc.), electronic devices, a computerreadable non-volatile storage unit (e.g., CD-ROM, floppy disk, hard diskdrive, etc.). The article of manufacture may be accessible from a fileserver providing access to the computer-readable programs via a networktransmission line, wireless transmission media, signals propagatingthrough space, radio waves, infrared signals, etc. The article ofmanufacture may be a flash memory card or a magnetic tape. The articleof manufacture includes hardware logic as well as software orprogrammable code embedded in a computer readable medium that isexecuted by a processor. In general, the computer-readable programs maybe implemented in any programming language, such as LISP, PERL, C, C++,C #, PROLOG, or in any byte code language such as JAVA. The softwareprograms may be stored on or in one or more articles of manufacture asobject code.

While various embodiments of the methods and systems have beendescribed, these embodiments are illustrative and in no way limit thescope of the described methods or systems. Those having skill in therelevant art can effect changes to form and details of the describedmethods and systems without departing from the broadest scope of thedescribed methods and systems. Thus, the scope of the methods andsystems described herein should not be limited by any of theillustrative embodiments and should be defined in accordance with theaccompanying claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: identifying, by one or moreprocessors, one or more types of password breach associated with one ormore data breaches; selecting, by the one or more processors, one ormore users having a type of password breach of the one or more types ofpassword breach; communicating, by the one or more processors, anelectronic training to the one or more users; and adjusting, by the oneor more processors, a risk score of the one or more users based at leaston results of the electronic training.
 2. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising determining, by the one or more processors, the adjustment tothe risk score based at least on the type of password breach.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising generating, by the one or moreprocessors, the electronic training based at least on the type ofpassword breach.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting,by the one or more processors, the one or more users from a group ofusers having a same type of password breach.
 5. The method of claim 1,further comprising classifying, by the one or more processors, the oneor more password breaches into a type of password breach.
 6. The methodof claim 5, further comprising determining, by the one or moreprocessors, the electronic training based at least on the type of databreach.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying, by theone or more processors, the one or more users as having one or morepasswords subject to the one or more data breaches.
 8. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising identifying, by the one or more processors,the one or more users as having one or more weak passwords.
 9. Themethod of claim 8, further comprising determining, by the one or moreprocessors, the one or more users as having one work weak passwordsbased at least on one or more weak password tests.
 10. The method ofclaim 8, further comprising adjusting, by the one or more processors,the risk score of the one or more users responsive to identifying theone or more users as having one or more weak passwords.
 11. A systemcomprising: one or more processors, coupled to memory and configured to:identify one or more types of password breach associated with one ormore data breaches; select one or more users having a type of passwordbreach of the one or more types of password breach; communicate anelectronic training to the one or more users; and adjust, a risk scoreof the one or more users based at least on results of the electronictraining.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more processorsare further configured to determine the adjustment to the risk scorebased at least on the type of password breach.
 13. The system of claim11, wherein the one or more processors are further configured togenerate the electronic training based at least on the type of passwordbreach.
 14. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more processorsare further configured to select the one or more users from a group ofusers having a same type of password breach.
 15. The system of claim 11,wherein the one or more processors are further configured to classifythe one or more password breaches into a type of password breach. 16.The system of claim 15, wherein the one or more processors are furtherconfigured to determine the electronic training based at least on thetype of data breach.
 17. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or moreprocessors are further configured to identify the one or more users ashaving one or more passwords subject to the one or more data breaches.18. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more processors arefurther configured to identify the one or more users as having one ormore weak passwords.
 19. The system of claim 18, wherein the one or moreprocessors are further configured to identity the one or more users ashaving one work weak passwords based at least on one or more weakpassword tests.
 20. The system of claim 18, wherein the one or moreprocessors are further configured to adjust the risk score of the one ormore users responsive to identifying the one or more users as having oneor more weak passwords.